Prevention Science

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Prevention science is a framework for research focused on preventing and/or mitigating behavioral and health challenges and increasing resiliency. The prevention science work at FPG draws from a diverse range of disciplines—including the behavioral, social, psychological, and neuro sciences—to understand the origins of social problems at the individual, community, and societal levels. Prevention strategies focus on ways to intervene before a problem emerges or worsens, avoiding adverse outcomes and their costs, and enhancing conditions conducive to healthy child and adolescent development, good mental and physical health, and strong families and communities.

Featured Program

The Fostering Research On Neuro-Prevention Translation via Infrastructure, Education, and Relationships (FRONTIER) program seeks to facilitate collaborative research into the effects of significant adversity on the development of children and adolescents, as well as methods for improving outcomes. The overall mission of FRONTIER is to apply both a transdisciplinary and translational approach for cross-cutting research, practice and policy in neuro-prevention science.

Featured FPG News Story

Through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative, the Impact Center at FPG’s Robin Jenkins, PhD, and Former FPG Senior Implementation Specialist Renée Boothroyd, PhD, are helping the Nebraska Administrative Offices of Courts and Probation create readiness for, and capacities to, effectively implement Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice recommendations stemming from a comprehensive statewide system review.

Featured Person

William Aldridge II, PhD, is director of The Impact Center at FPG and a senior implementation specialist. His work includes active implementation support and evaluation research on the implementation and scale-up of evidence-based prevention/well-being strategies in communities and state, regional, and national service systems. He is currently principal investigator on the Implementation Capacity for Triple P projects.

Current Projects

The Impact Center at FPG’s Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects are currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of Triple P System of Interventions in North Carolina. In the proposed project, the ICTP project team embedded in NC Triple P Support System will provide direct implementation support to ten NC Triple P regions to aid and support local, regional, and state partners’ scale-up of Triple P. The ICTP project team will collaborate with PCANC and Triple P America to align Triple P support system so that multifaceted, yet well-coordinated supports are available to statewide partners. Furthermore, ICTP teams will continue providing implementation science guidance to the NC Triple P Partnership for Strategy and Governance (PSG) and the Triple P NC Learning Collaborative (NCLC). Lastly, the ICTP project team plans to develop online implementation learning resources and/or communication products to facilitate greater application of implementation science and best practices for Triple P scale-up and continue to identify opportunities to enhance Triple P quality and outcome monitoring for improvement at community and state levels.
Through the OJJDP FY 2021 Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative, the Impact Center at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (subcontractor and partner) will support Westat as the prime applicant, along with other project partners, to advance state level juvenile justice systems toward the adoption and delivery of evidence-supported practices stemming from a full system review, recommended modifications, capacity building where needed (or desired), and enhanced performance of chosen reforms.
The aim of this research project is to investigate the relationships among housing stability, health and well-being, and climate change vulnerability. Findings will be shared with our community-both with people who experience homelessness and housing instability and with organizations and agencies working to serve those populations. The goal is that the research findings will advance racial and economic justice, not just in Orange and Durham Counties, but throughout the United States. As a nonprofit working toward systems change, these findings will influence the day-to-day programmatic work that CEF does and help to influence how CEF can use its person-centered approach while simultaneously steering members toward specific measures that increase stability.
The Impact Center at FPG's Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects are currently supporting the scale-up and expansion of Triple P System of Interventions in North and South Carolina.